10 COMMON MARKETING MISTAKES AND HOW TO CORRECT THEM

People today are exposed to more marketing than ever before. For small business owners, this means you have to nd ways to cut through competing messages to reach your target audience and motivate them to buy. Here are 10 common marketing mistakes small business entrepreneurs make that keep them from growing their businesses. 1. NOT TARGETING AN AUDIENCE Before you ever implement a single marketing idea, you should be clear about who youre marketing to. This is the most important step in developing e ective marketing strategies, and its so o en botched. If you dont get this right, your marketing ideas will fall short because everything is linked to who you are trying to build a relationship with and motivate to buy. So o en, business owners think theyre targeting an audience when in fact theyre not. For instance, hungry people is not a target audience for a restaurant. Anyone who is interested in buying suits isnt a target audience for a suit maker. People who like co ee isnt a target audience for a co ee shop, not even Starbucks. People who like co ee who live in Alexandria, Va., is still not targeted enough. You need to resist the temptation to go a er the broadest possible audience and instead intentionally limit yourself. Why? The more you know about your target audience, the more you know what motivates them, what appeals to them, why they make certain decisions, and so on. Simply put, the more you know about your customers and prospective customers, the be er you can serve them. And the best sales people on the planet are the best servers. Now, if youre reading this and feeling a bit uncomfortable, youre not alone. Targeting an audience can be scary. Its more comfortable to just make your o ering available to everyone, where nely targeting feels like youre pu ing all of your eggs in one basket and possibly 9

alienating potential buyers outside the target. This is totally understandable, but consider this - is everyone or anyone who needs (insert your service or product) really going to buy from you? Are there no competitors? Does your product or service really appeal to everyone? The answers are no, yes and no. While Google dominates the online search market, millions of people still use Yahoo. Hundreds of thousands of people visit Old Town Alexandria every year, but only a fraction visit boutique shops. Only a fraction dine at Italian eateries. Only a fraction buy art. The marketplace is highly segmented, and the be er you target your audience and appeal to it in your marketing, the be er results youll get. Here are some questions to help you target your market. What kind of people do I want to do business with? What are the demographics of my target market? (Age, sex, income, race, etc.) Where do they live? What are their lifes le preferences? Where do they hang out online and o ine? What do they read, watch and listen to? What motivates them? What bothers them? What concerns them? Who inuences them? Who else is competing for them? 2. PUTTING TOO MUCH PRESSURE ON SINGLE IDEAS As marketer Joe Polish said, Marketing is a process, not episodic. A mistake many business owners make is pu ing too much pressure on a single advertisement, newsle er or service o er to seal the deal. While this works sometimes, its the exception to the rule. Rather you should focus on motivating people to take the next step toward buying, volunteering, donating or whatever it is you want people to do. If youre married (assuming it wasnt an arranged marriage), you had to woo your spouse rst. You had to convince them that marrying you was a good idea. You had to build their trust over time. You didnt just pop the question a er the rst date! Stop doing this with your marketing and instead let your marketing ideas support one another and ultimately compel your target customer to act. Heres a 4-step example using Facebook. 10

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You have a Facebook page for your business. You run a targeted Facebook advertisement, compelling people to Like your page. (Facebook can be a great place to advertise directly to your target audience due to users prole information, posting history and so on.) Note the ad didnt sell anything, it simple moved people a step closer to becoming a customer. As your followers grow, you continue to build trust and rapport and market to your target audience. Due to Facebook Insights, which are free, you can see follower demographics to get an even be er idea of who your market is, see which posts reach more people and when, and so on. All of this information can then be used to improve all of your marketing ideas.

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You execute a simple Facebook posting plan that includes number of posts per day, pes of posts (promotional, engaging, educational, video, photo, etc.) and timing. A key is adding value, not being a nuisance. So, dont just post o ers. Instead, post tips, advice, funny but relevant information, etc. Another key is sharing content that causes people to comment, Like or share it. The more people do this, the more your posts will show up in users feeds, based on how Facebook works behind the scenes.

Simply put, the more people engage your posts, the more Facebook recognizes them as valuable content to your following and therefore prioritizes it above other posts in a users post feed. To quote a news anchorman I know, Its science. You just have to know how to use it to your advantage. Note, again, that youre not just selling to prospective customers, youre communicating, building trust and rapport, and strategically sharing o erings, services, promotions, etc. If you execute this correctly, you will compel more people to buy. There are an innite number of ways to do what Ive outlined here online and o ine. For instance, another way to do this is to run an ad in a print magazine that drives people to a free, educational video online or a free-recorded message. The video or message compels people to visit to your website where they can download free, helpful information in exchange for an email address. Now you can continue to market to them via email. This all may seem like a lot of work and unnecessarily complex, but its not. Ge ing the a ention of your target market, building the necessary amount of trust and rapport, and 11

motivating them to buy arent easy. But if you commit yourself to smartly working the marketing process, it will pay o . 3. BEING TOO QUICK TO SEAL THE DEAL Again, most successful marriages dont involve a story about signing the marriage license on the rst date. If youre thinking Im not asking someone to marry me! I just want their business, I hope youll hang with me because successful marketing is incredibly similar to successful personal relationships. The problem is so many businesses try to seal the deal too soon. Unless youre centering your marketing around having the lowest price, you need to take more time to educate and build trust and rapport with your target market. You have to give people a reason to not go with the lowest price o eror, and this takes time and educating people. You have to distinguish yourself from the competition, just like in dating. So what about your business does that? Taking it a step further, what about your business is most valued by your target audience? Quali ? Unique service o ering? Lifetime guarantee? Rari ? Quanti ? Thoroughness? Professionalism? Varie ? Customer service? If youre a home remodeler, why should someone go with you over your competitor? What di erentiates you? When your target market is considering having their home remodeled, what conversation are they having in their mind? Its then your job to appeal to it with education-based marketing that answers those questions, increases their condence and builds trust and rapport with you, instead of trying to close the deal before people are ready. If you execute this step correctly, youll greatly increase your chance of going the distance and hearing I do. 4. NOT MOTIVATING PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS TO PURCHASE BY MAKING AN OFFER As my good friend and business coach, Chris LoCurto, says, Until you have customers, your business doesnt exist. In other words, you have to sell. The thing is selling doesnt have to be awkward, confrontational or pressure-lled. The best sellers have the heart of a teacher, serve prospective customers, and as a result, the transition to closing the sale is actually enjoyable for both parties! Weird, huh? 12

But before the close, you have to make the o er. Otherwise, all of the education youve imparted and rapport youve built will be for nothing. Its a myth that people will just buy if you educate them to the benets of your product or service. You have to lead people to buy. This can be done in so many ways. It could look like this. 1. Send a direct mail piece to your target audience that prompts them to visit your website for a free consumer guide. 2. In exchange for the free guide, visitors must leave their contact information to include an email address. 3. You continue to send current and prospective customers educational information, tips, resources or whatever it is you know is valuable to them. The point is to build trust and rapport and build their condence as a buyer. 4. A er a period of time, you make an o er to compel your target audience to act. Depending on your business, this may or may not even be a purchase o er. Rather, it may be for example a free roof audit and 100% satisfaction guarantee IF they have you replace it. At this point, you may be thinking, What if I do something like this, and they dont buy from me? Heres the thing. People will buy from you because you educated them, and built trust and rapport, and led them to act on your o er. Once you give them something valuable for free, such as insight to their problem or issue, the chance theyll buy from you rapidly increases. Also, its psychology. People feel compelled to pay for something theyre given, especially if they value it. Did you think those free food samples at the grocery store were just a way for management to thank you for shopping there? Exactly. 5. MAKING IT ALL ABOUT YOU The blunt truth is this. People dont buy from you to fulll your needs. They buy to satis their own. Now I dont suspect that was overly shocking to read. In fact, Im sure you knew that already. The interesting thing is all marketing is centered on that exact concept, but so much marketing doesnt work because its all about the business, rather than the target market. If you have a minute, open up a magazine or newspaper or visit a few of your favorite websites and look at the ads. In fact, perhaps look at your own ads. Go ahead. Ill wait! 13

What did you see? I bet the overwhelming majori of ads were all about the business, which would be great if the business was for sale. Now I dont believe for a second the overwhelming majori of business owners dont realize why theyre in business. But youd never know that from their marketing. Rather, business owners should focus their marketing outward, appealing to the needs, values and desires of their customers. Simply put, marketing should appeal to the thoughts already present in the customers mind. For instance, youre a corrective specialist, not to be confused with a chiropractor. Rather than dedicate your entire website to explaining who you are, why you decided to become a corrective specialist, and your service o erings, why not try this? O er loads of free information about the health benets of visiting a corrective specialist. Explain the di erence between corrective specialists and chiropractors. Answer questions people should ask before doing business with any corrective specialist. Address common misconceptions. Explain price versus value. Focusing your marketing content outward, appealing to the questions and thoughts your target market o en has about your business, and educating them builds their trust and condence and sets the condition for making a o er they cant refuse. 6. JUMPING ON THE FADS It seems like every week, a new it tool arrives on the marketing scene, and if youre not careful, the squirrel in you will race to it before guring out if its really for you and your business. One reason many entrepreneurs jump on fads is because theyre not ge ing results with other marketing ideas and theyre simply looking for something that works. This is completely understandable. Throwing money at marketing that doesnt work gets old and frustrating. The problem with fads is a few businesses get results, the word gets around, so called gurus hype them, and then people swarm to them and start using them. And soon a er, of course, they dont get results. Social media is the best example of this currently. Sure, social media can be a powerful marketing tool, if you use it smartly. The problem is so many business owners are drawn to Facebook, Twi er, LinkedIn, Google+ and others, begin 14

using them and get absolutely no results. Why? Because they execute them poorly, and have bought into the myth that just communicating with people is enough. You still have to smartly lead people to buy and that involves targeting a market, ge ing people to identi themselves, building trust and rapport, educating them, motivating them to buy and then converting the sale. This is the formula for e ective marketing regardless of where and when it occurs, and because most business owners dont get this right any other time, theyre not going to get it right with social media. In short, just because 750 million people use Facebook, doesnt mean you will compel any of them to buy. Another problem with fads is they distract and cause business owners to lose focus. At the center of every successful marketing process is a very focused person or team. Theyve designed and implemented a sophisticated and most likely simple marketing process. Theyre organized, have goals and are commi ed. And then one day Joe walks into the o ce and starts trying to sell everyone on some new fad hes read about on several marketing blogs. Because Joe is well liked and respected by the team, he convinces them and they shelve their current marketing ideas for a well-hyped, unproven fad. Heres the thing. Squirrels are terrible marketers. You dont want to be a squirrel. At a minimum, be Super Squirrel, and avoid being normal. 7. COPYING WHAT OTHER PEOPLE DO Growing up, you probably heard Just because theyre doing it doesnt mean you should. The same applies to marketing. Youre starting a business youre totally stoked about, but the idea of marketing it is scary or at a minimum a li le stressful. So, what do so many business owners do? They copy their competitors. Well, if theyre doing it, it must work, they say. Otherwise, they wouldnt do it. Wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is most marketing ideas dont work well at all, and then people come along and copy them not knowing any be er.

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Instead, you need to recognize your business is unique. Even if youre one of 25 tire shops in the area, your business is di erent because a key in marketing is di erentiating it from the rest. You cant do this by copying everything your competitors do. So, instead, start by targeting a single market and get to know them. Find out what they read, why they buy what it is you o er, what motivates them and so on. Dont just copy what someone else does because theres a strong chance either its not e ective or not targeting the set of people you are. 8. NOT MARKETING TO CURRENT CUSTOMERS A small business greatest source of potential income is its existing customer base, and surprisingly an o en-overlooked source. Not marketing specically to them is a huge missed opportuni . I mean these people ARE your target market. Theres no guessing about this at all. If you get nothing else out of this guide, get this point because if you do, you will get results in the form of repeat business and increased prots. How so? Simple. You spend more money to get new customers than to cause current ones to buy again. Think about it. Before a customer ever bought, this happened: 1. You spent time and money to determine your target market. 2. You spent time and money to develop marketing ideas you thought or hoped would work. 3. You spent time and money to implement the ideas. 4. You spent time and money tweaking some ideas and investing more in ones that did work. 5. Over time, customers got to know, like and trust you. 6. Finally, customers bought. While this is over-simplied, its very realistic, and look at the amount of time and money it took to get customers to buy. Why wouldnt you have a system in place to continue marketing to this group? Dont make the mistake of thinking marketing is just about ge ing new customers. Its not. Thats only 1/3 of it. 16

9. NOT DOCUMENTING WHO YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE AND HOW YOU GOT THEM Administrative work. Ugh! Im with you. Its pre lame, but its critical to the success of your marketing, especially when it comes to creating repeat business. As you just read, your current customers are a gold mine because its cheaper to get them to buy again than it was to get them to buy the rst time. Theres no guesswork about them being your target market. Also, they stand the greatest chance of buying from you repeatedly. Unfortunately, once customers, or potential customers for that ma er, are in the door many businesses dont have deliberate ways of nding out who they are and how they wound up there. Not doing this costs businesses because they spent time and money to get them to their website or inside the business. If right now youre thinking, Well, no I didnt. They were just driving by, No they were just walking by, No they just happened upon my site, or something similar, youre kidding yourself because you spent time and money to determine where to locate your business, not to mention the time and money you spent actually pu ing it there! They didnt have to see your ad to count as a win for your marketing. Customers dont happen by chance or luck. You cause them to show up and you need to document how this occurred. Over time, as you collect more and more information, youre going to see trends and pa erns, such as what marketing ideas are most e ective, where your customers live, what theyre interested in, how much they spend on average, seasonal pa erns, and so on. Many business owners hurt themselves by thinking people dont want to be approached when theyre shopping. Theyll nd me if they need me, they say. This mindset is counterproductive. What is true is people dont want to be harassed and annoyed, but most customers wont mind conversing with you, especially small business owners. And they especially dont mind being served in a friendly way. Many people shop at small businesses intentionally because they love a more intimate and personable shopping experience. Use that to your advantage! So, no, dont stand at the entrance of your business with a survey, ring o questions, but have a way to nd out more about who that person is standing there. Its amazing what you can learn in a simple, normal 30-second conversation. Then go write it down. 17

10. NOT ORCHESTRATING REFERRALS The fact is unless you stink your business gets referrals. But do you know why? Sure, great service, price, experience, products and so on ma er but thats not why people refer your business. They dont do it to help you out or even as a favor. Rather, they do it to make themselves feel good. Think about it. You have a fantastic experience at a local Italian restaurant. The following day you get into a conversation about good places to eat and what do you do? You recommend the Italian restaurant. Days later you run into the same person and they tell you they went to the restaurant you recommended and loved it! And what happens then? You feel great about yourself! You dont, however, feel great about the business owner and how you helped grow their business and provided income to a server there. No, its all about you. Now why does this ma er to you as a small business entrepreneur? Well, if youre like so many of your peers, you dont ask for referrals from your customers because it feels awkward. You feel uncertain about their perception of you, like youre asking for a favor, or youre afraid theyll think you cant drum up business on your own. This is wrong because people refer for themselves, not you, and people love to refer businesses they love! So, dont be afraid to ask your customers who clearly love you to refer you.

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